CJI Gavai’s calm demeanour is reminiscent of predecessor’s presence of mind 57 years ago before a knife-wielding attacker

Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai’s cool countenance to brush aside an object hurled at him while asking rattled lawyers to continue with court proceedings without missing a beat on Monday (October 6, 2025) is reminiscent of an incident when another Chief Justice of India, Justice M. Hidayatullah, used his presence of mind to wrestle a knife-wielding assailant in the same court room 57 years ago to save his fellow judge Justice A.N. Grover’s life.

The incident happened on March 13, 1968, when a three-judge Bench headed by CJI Hidayatullah was delivering a judgment after hearing a civil appeal.

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Besides Justice Grover, Justice Vaidialingam was also part of the Bench presiding over the sitting at the Chief Justice’s court room.

Justice Hidayatullah narrated in his memoir ‘My Own Boswell’ about noticing a man pushing his way forward to the judges’ dais, shoving aside the court official taking down the judgment in shorthand and climbing on top of the court master’s table before heaving himself onto the judges’ Bench.

He had opened a flick-knife by then. Justice Hidayatullah grabbed a huge inkstand with an intention to “smash the assailant’s face if he came near me”.

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Rumble in the court room

Justice Vaidialingam tried to push the man off the table. Justice Grover was attempting to reach the door when the assailant attacked him.

Justice Hidayatullah dropped the inkstand to grapple with the man to save Justice Grover, who had already suffered a blow to the back of his head. An assistant librarian jumped into the tussle to hold the man by the waist. Finally, the Chief Justice managed to tilt the knife’s edge into a thick carpet, where it was buried securely, before a police officer cuffed the assailant.

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Chief Justice Hidayatullah said he had asked the police officer to not manhandle the assailant. “The man heard this and looked strangely at me with softness in his eyes. He previously looked like a maniac,” the CJI had reminisced.

Minutes later, Chief Justice Hidayatullah and Justice Vaidialingam drove Justice Grover to the Wellingdon Hospital for treatment for a scalp wound.

A report by The Hindu had identified the assailant as Manmohan Das, who was taken into custody by the police. The report said he was stated to be a “half mad-man” belonging to Mushirabad district in West Bengal.